Value Louisiana

VALUE LOUISIANA: A statewide initiative to help businesses do well by doing good.

Value Louisiana is a LifeCity-led and Greater New Orleans Foundation-supported initiative to support the growth of for-benefit development in Louisiana that builds a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable community. For-benefit organizations (both for-profit and non-profit) use market-based methods to offer social and environmental solutions.

The initiative is founded in the idea that the best way to grow our economy is through combined efforts that not only create jobs and revenue but also positive social outcomes: the Impact Economy (sometimes referred to as the circular economy).

The Impact Economy is a cross-sector marketplace where wealth creation is driven by positive social and environmental impact. It includes for-benefit organizations, their investors, and the organizations that support them.

For-benefit organizations come in a wide variety of models and legal forms, all of which leverage market-based approaches to solve social and environmental problems. Some examples that might be familiar are:
certified B-Corp and L3C.

The Impact Economy is rooted in a belief that social needs drive market innovation and companies are best served when they generate value not just for themselves, but also for their communities: they create shared value.

Our belief is that we can “do well by doing good” – that making money and having social impact are not mutually exclusive, but actually interdependent. Thus, we think about value not only in financial terms, but also social, intellectual, political, physical and natural capital. In the end, this is about the amazing value of Louisiana – and protecting that value for generations to come.

Vision:

Business is a driving force of profitable social innovation in New Orleans. We seek to create a culture in our community that views business not just as profit-driven, but mission-driven — where private capital and earned-income strategies can leverage and scale social and environmental solutions.

The Value Louisiana Steering Committee at our Launch Event

Regional Sustainability + Resilience Committee

The Value Louisiana initiative is led by the Regional Sustainability Committee, representing over 10 local backbone organizations, and is facilitated by LifeCity.

We work together to do the following:

Evaluate a broad range of sustainability assessment tools and metrics;

Advocate for smart policy initiatives;

Strengthen consistent communications and public relations;

Identify champions in their areas of influence;

Cross-promote events; and

Connect resources to needs and gaps in the marketplace.

2018 POLICY + METRICS PRIORITY AREAS

Responsible Stormwater Management

Healthy Food Systems

Clean Energy

Zero Waste

Inclusivity

Employee Investment

Equitable Hiring

Community Relations

Keep It Local

REGIONAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE:

New Orleans Environmental Education Collaborative

Gulf South Renewable Energy Industries Association

The Water Collaborative

New Orleans EMPLOY Collaborative

The Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)

The New Orleans Business Alliance

Tulane Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development Program

The Green Project

Energy Smart

New Orleans Office of Resilience + Sustainability

Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF)

New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee

The Urban League of Louisiana

Broadmoor Improvement Association (BIA)

LifeCity, LLC

FOUNDING STEERING COMMITTEE:

Algiers Economic Development Foundation (AEDF)

City of New Orleans

Delgado Community College

EcoUrban, LLC

Horizon Water Initiative

Joule Energy

LifeCity, LLC

Lighthouse Louisiana

Louisiana Association for Non-profit Organizations (LANO)

Propeller, a Force for Social Innovation

The Foundation for Louisiana (FFL)

The Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF)

The Urban Conservancy / Stay Local

The New Orleans Chamber of Commerce

Tulane University, Office of Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship

Technical Assistance Providers

ACTIVE PARTNERS:

Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC)

Sally Anne McInerny, P.E., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, College of Engineering

How to Get Involved

Come to our bi-annual meetings (open to anyone working towards increasing the resilience and sustainability of our region) and track progress on latest projects;

Join our Impact Directory; and

Sign up for email updates about upcoming community meetings.

If you’re interested in becoming involved at a deeper level including research, metrics, and membership in the Regional Sustainability + Resilience Committee, please email Jeana@MyLifeCity.com.

More About For-Benefit Development

Value Louisiana and LifeCity recognize that For-Benefit organizations and businesses already exist in Louisiana. We want to support and grow the network and communicate the importance and relevance of the model.

As described by the Fourth Sector and The B Team, for-benefit organizations tend to have: a social purpose, earned income, inclusive ownership, stakeholder governance, fair compensation, reasonable returns, social and environmental responsibility, transparency and protected assets.

Lighthouse Louisiana is a non-profit organization started in 1900 that manufactures paper cups, paper towels, and other products. In 2008, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services and Lighthouse LA established rehabilitation and vocational training programs within the manufacturing facility for on-the-job training. The City and the Louisiana Department of Economic Development supported these efforts by providing grants and an interest free loan to the Lighthouse to purchase the property and equipment. In return for their investment, the community and state would reap the economic benefits of this endeavour – new jobs and payroll dollars, local spending, construction dollars, sales tax, and services to the community of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Lighthouse Louisiana employs 155 people, 74 of whom are blind. While the organization is a non-profit, commercial revenue makes up 95% of the organization’s funding. It creates business revenue while also solving a major problem in our community: employment for the blind.

The Value Louisiana Manufacturing Program

The Value Louisiana Manufacturing Program is an Impact Development Model guided by Value Louisiana helping communities, manufacturers, and manufacturing supply chains adapt and thrive in today’s green economy. By joining the Value Louisiana Manufacturing Program through LifeCity, a manufacturer receives a comprehensive assessment of its operations through a collaboration of technical assistant partners to save money through efficiency improvements and improve its impact, and as a result create jobs.

A For-benefit Business Assessment that reviews the stage of for-benefit development demonstrated by company leadership and assesses internal culture of sustainability that balances mission and profit (includes a water assessment and greenhouse gas reduction potential);

A Business Excellence Assessment that reviews the health of the overall company and stage of business development;

This technical assistance program based on the E3 framework built by multiple federal offices and active in 26 states has helped create 373 jobs and retain 2,283 jobs since 2009. These programs have also identified 485,928 metric tons of potential CO2 emissions reductions, which is equivalent to removing more than 102,000 passenger vehicles from the road. Check out The Manufacturing Group Page and email green@mylifecity.com for information about joining.

What is Pay for Success or a Social Impact Bond?

Social impact bonds (SIBs) are a pay-for-success contract in which a private investor provides the investment capital to fund an intervention to address a social challenge, typically related to behavioral change (e.g. recidivism, homelessness, childhood obesity, etc.). This is just one tool of the new impact economy that can support the development of for-benefit organizations and strategies. In a SIB, the investor is paid a financial return based on the savings actually achieved as a result of a successful intervention (e.g. fewer people in prison save the government money; the government pays the investor out of these savings). SIBs are often structured such that a private foundation guarantees a portion of the initial principle invested by the investor, allowing philanthropists an opportunity to leverage their balance sheet for more impact (they only pay if the intervention is successful)

History

In December of 2013, LifeCity received a small grant to design a For-Benefit Development strategy for our region: the Value Louisiana initiative, through the “Growing the Impact Economy” (GIE) Conference held at Harvard University. Learning about the Federal Government’s Economy, Energy, and Environment (E3) framework at the conference. LifeCity saw potential to bring the coordinated federal and local initiative to provide small and medium-sized manufacturers with lean, clean, energy, and greenhouse gas (GHG) assessments to Louisiana as a model for Value Louisiana’s collective impact approach for all sectors.

Your platform for sustainability.

Any business can become a green business, and any business can claim to be green. LifeCity is here to ensure that businesses that want to go green have the support to do so, and businesses who claim to be green are transparent about their social and environmentally responsible practices.